1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image recording apparatus having both of the function of recording the image of an object (an original) on a first recording medium such as a lengthy microfilm (camera function) and the function of electrically recording the image of the object (original) on a second recording medium such as a photomagnetic disk (electronic file system).
2. Related Background Art
a) A microfilm camera is mentioned as an example of the image recording apparatus. PA0 b) As another example of the image recording apparatus, there may be mentioned an electronic file which reads the image of an object by a photoelectric conversion element and converts it into an electrical signal, and makes it into a digital signal and records it on a photomagnetic disc. PA0 c) So, there has been devised an image recording apparatus having both of the camera function of item a) above and the electronic file function of item b) above.
The microfilm camera is an automatic photographing apparatus which conveys materials to be microfilmed and preserved, for example, bills, checks, stock certificates, documents, drawings, etc., in succession to a photographing position, imprints the images of those materials in succession onto a lengthy microfilm, and discharges the photographed materials out of the apparatus.
The images photographed on the microfilm are excellent in long-term preservability, image quality and proving ability, and the microfilm camera is characterized by its high-speed photographing performance.
The electronic file also records materials such as documents and drawings in succession on a recording medium, but does not require development as in the case of microfilm and therefore, it has the promptitude of image reproduction after recording, and is excellent in searching and editing performance.
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus having both of the camera function and the electronic file function of item c) above.
In the image recording apparatus having both of the camera function and the electronic file function, when the image of an object is to be recorded on both of a photographic recording medium such as microfilm and a digital recording medium such as a photomagnetic disk at the time, usually the digital recording medium having immediate recording reproducibility is used as the object of ordinary search and editing and the microfilm having high long-term preservability is used for the preservation (back-up) of the object image.
When the photographic recording medium such as microfilm is thus used for the preservation, it is necessary that the images of all objects be reliably photographed on the microfilm, but in the image recording apparatus according to the prior art, image recording only on the microfilm or only digital recording is also possible and therefore, it has not been ensured that the images will be reliably photographed on the microfilm at one time.
Also, in an image recording apparatus which permits a photographic recording medium or a digital recording medium to be freely dismounted for interchange, there has been the problem that wrong image recording is effected in a combination with a recording medium other than a combination particularly used for preservation and the microfilm does not provide a reliable preserving medium for images.
Further, taking a photomagnetic disk as an example of the digital recording medium, the image recording capacity (the number of recordable frames of images) of a photomagnetic disk and that of a roll of microfilm often differs greatly from each other. When, for example, the photographing reduction rate is small, it happens that images to be photographed on several rolls of microfilm can be recorded on a photomagnetic disk, and in the case of photographing in which the reduction rate is great, it happens that images to be photographed on a roll of microfilm are recorded on several photomagnetic disks, and this has led to the problem that the combination of recording mediums becomes more complicated and cumbersome.